Love of the Dragon Warrior

6 feet below

"Did you find her?" Xiao Niao asked when Po and the others got back to the kitchen. She had missed out on the activities that day due to a bad migraine she developed right before lunch.

"No," Po said leaning against the wall with a perplexed look on his face. "I don't know where she went!"  He sighed and looked back at Xiao Niao, asking how her head felt. 

"Better," Xiao Niao assured him. "I took some medicine and then I had a pretty long nap after you guys left."

"How's Zhou?" Jai-Rong asked, noticing that she wasn't at the table.

"She's feeling better," Destiny told her. "She showed us what her business associate got her in that little box. It's so cute!"

Lu-Shi laughed. "She asked if the brooch was a romantic gesture, but then we had to remind her that if it was, Zhou wouldn't be in the contest." 

Destiny flushed a light shade of pink and started immediately pouring herself tea to cover it up.

Shifu, who had been pondering quietly in his chair, got up and turned towards Po and his group. "I'll have the guards help you look for Song," he said. "I'm sure she's more than capable of taking care of herself, but I'd still like to make sure she's alright. Better safe than sorry." 

Po looked over at Tigress who was quietly drinking her tea. "No snarky remarks, Tigress?" he asked. 

Tigress glanced at him in surprise, but then finished her tea and said, "I promised Shifu I wouldn't say anything." 

"I don't suppose this means you'd like to help us look for her?" Shifu asked with a small smirk. 

"I'll stay out of it. I already know how I'm going to react and I don't trust myself." 

"A very mature response," Leopard told the Dragon Warrior, though she didn't get a reply. 

"I'll round up some of the south wing guards to help you look," Shifu told Po. "That side isn't usually busy." 

"Why not off-the-clock guards?" Tigress asked. 

"The guards are on a strict shift to ensure a good sleeping regime. I don't want to mess with that." 

"Neikan doesn't go to sleep until 11:45. That's pretty late." 

"Your friend is also considerably shorter than the other guards, so that would make sense." 

"Wait, that's a thing?" Po asked in surprise. 

"Makes sense to me," Shifu told him. "I'll be right back." 

He left the room to grab some of the guards while Po, Leopard, Tai Lin, and Jai-Rong waited in the doorway for him. 

"You'll need lanterns," Tigress told them as Viper finished dinner and put it on the table. "It's going to be dark soon." 

"I'll grab some," Monkey offered, quickly leaving the room. Tai Lin offered to go with him and ducked out of the kitchen after the master. 

"I'm just surprised she's not back yet," Viper noted thoughtfully. "You'd think she'd notice you left already. Ordai and Lam thought maybe she was sleeping" 

"Hey, what about my theory?!" Destiny complained. 

"Being kidnapped by mutant cloud ninjas and taken away to a mythical volcano temple that has never been proven to exist doesn't count as a plausible theory," Tigress told her firmly. 

"Not even if we're talking about the Wu Sisters," Crane seconded. "They've been dead for at least 30 years." 

Destiny sighed and just slumped in her chair in defeat.